I tried the cookie. “These are fantastic.”
“He found the recipe on the internet.” She grinned. “He’s determined to find the best version of every kind of cookie, no matter where he has to go to get the recipe.”
“Good man.” I washed the chocolate down with a gulp of coffee. “Light post.”
“Well, there’s Bigfoot,” she said. “He loves light bulbs.”
“I thought about that. Has he ever escalated to this level before?”
“No. Not that I know of.”
“So we can talk to him, but it’s not really his M.O.”
“Is it possible we have another dragon loose in town? It could have taken the shape of anything it wanted to be. Now it’s eating metal?”
“Possible. I’ll ask dragon pig to look for it. But both items are big public lights. If a dragon wanted to eat metal, there is more easily accessed metal objects in town. Park benches, garbage cans…”
“… fire hydrants,” she added.
“Yep. Not to mention cars and sheds and fencing. And since nothing else metal has been reported missing, I’m thinking dragon number two isn’t our suspect.”
“Worth asking about.”
“I will.”
She finished off her cookie and pulled her coffee mug into her hands. “It’s not like they’re easily sold or shipped. Can’t strip them down for anything valuable.”
“Copper wire?”
“Not enough to make it worth the effort. That shadow you saw out by Than’s shop. How big was it?”
“Hard to say. Bigger than a human, I think.”
The problem with that was we had leshiye and giants and all manners of larger supernaturals in town. To live among the non-magic humans, many of the big supernaturals carried a spell to change their appearance, or otherwise used their powers and abilities to make people see them as something that fit in with the common world.
“It’s early to rule out humans, but let’s do it for a moment and think through who would want a light pole so bad they’d steal it in the middle of a storm,” she said.
“All right. Any of the gods could be behind it.”
“They can’t use their powers.”
“Sure, but there’s still magic, and any one of them can use magic.”
“You think one of the gods, here in town, on vacation, is going to be dumb enough to steal traffic lights just for kicks?”
“Well, Crow, maybe.”
She grinned. “Did you stop by his garage sale?”
“That tent,” I said. “You?”
“Yeah. Didn’t see traffic lights.”
“Was anything else…strange about his sale?” I asked. “Other than the lurid pink whale?”
“Spill it,” she said. “Whatever you just thought of.”
“There was an old record player and records. I thought I saw a shine of magic on them. Maybe.”
“Shine?”
“Just a soft gold glow. Might not be anything.”
“Might be a dragon,” she said.
“Or a spell? There was more than one shiny moment.”
“Why would a record player need a spell?” she asked.
I shrugged. “Too many possibilities. Crow got the stuff from abandoned storage units. I should pull records to find out who owned them. Maybe that would give us an idea about the record player. If it’s magic.”
“Did someone buy it?”
“Couple of the ladies from the knitting club.”
“This is important?”
“Isn’t it?”
“Okay, so let me get this straight.” She tucked one bare foot up under her on the couch. “You are going to pull storage records, track down the knitting club members to see if a record player is magic, and tell the dragon pig to search the town for other dragons. You are also, simultaneously going to solve the thefts and transfer god powers to Death, who hasn’t ever looked after the powers in Ordinary.”
“Yes?”
She stared at me for an extended moment. “LaPine is beautiful this time of year.”
I frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“I’ve talked to Ryder.”
Everything in me stilled. “Okay?”
“He said you’ve shot down every idea he’s come up with.”
“That’s not true.”
She tipped her head down, eyebrow raised.
“Some of the ideas I haven’t said yes or no to yet. I like them, I just keep getting called away by things and don’t want him paying cancellation fees.”
“You’re avoiding leaving town.”
“Hey, so here’s a fun question,” I said brightly. “How’s it going with your boyfriend? Has the demon earned the right to come inside the secret library?”
She rolled her eyes. “Bathin and I are doing just fine, thank you. I am perfectly comfortable with not letting him into the library yet, and you know what? So is he. Because this is a place full of old magics, and I’m the one keeping them safe and secure. Also, that’s not what we should be talking about.”
“Well, neither is my relationship.”
She blew air through her lips. “For someone who has been in love with a person for most of her life, you are the slowest person to commit to anything new.”
“Slow? The moment he proposed to me, I said yes.”
“After the demon showed up.”
“Yeah, there was that.”
“After we talked you out of going after said demon to take care of business while poor Ryder was still on his knees.”
“He wasn’t on his knees,” I mumbled into my cup. “He tackled me.”
She settled back, waiting for more. Waiting for the truth.
“We have a string of thefts, a god power exchange, and a Valkyrie on the hunt for fresh volunteer blood, and you think I should just drop all that and leave town?”
“Dad was like that.”
“I know.
“Never wanted to leave.”
“I know.”
“Workaholic.”
“I’m not Dad.”
“But you’re making the same choices he made.”
“Maybe it’s a Bridge thing?” I mused.
“I think it’s a you-don’t-trust-us thing.”
“Whoa. Not true.”
“You don’t trust us to look after ourselves and each other while you’re gone.”
“I trust you. Most of you. Not Crow…”
“You think something bad is going to happen, something terrible, and you won’t make it back in time to save us.”
That was so close to the heart, I choked on coffee, my throat too tight to work correctly.
“You know Jean will tell us if something really bad is going to happen,” Myra went on unflappably. “She’s been practicing being more sensitive to her gift, to give us longer warning times before doom hits.”
“I know.”
“You know if something terrible happened, all the gods in this town would rise up and kick ass, even though that means they’d have to pack up their powers and leave town for at least a year. They’ve done it before.”